Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fasteners, and more particularly to an elastic fastener that may be wrapped around items and removably connected to itself by inserting heads at the ends of the fastener through apertures through the body of the fastener.
Description of Related Art
The prior art teaches a wide range of fasteners that may be used for fastening items together, or otherwise connecting them. This may range from fastening multiple items (e.g., cables) together, such as with a cable tie, to lacing shoes, closing the tops of sandals, or otherwise fastening a broad range of items together. Nothing in the background of the invention should be construed to limit the present invention to particular implementations, but these examples are used to illustrate some of the multiple possible uses of the present invention.
Some examples of prior art devices include Joseph, U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,063, which teaches a cable tie that includes an elastic body and a locking head. The flexible strap includes a plurality of apertures, in a manner that is similar to the present invention; however, the locking head is of different construction than the present invention, many of the details of construction are different, and the method of use of the two devices is completely different. The Joseph device further lacks many of the key improvement of the present invention, as discussed in greater detail below.
There are also several fastening devices that utilize straps with wide, flat portions that self-interlock. Daniell, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,872 for example, teaches a resilient strap having flattened elongated links, each pair of links being rigidly joined together through interlocking between the link and the connector of a link.
The above-described references are hereby incorporated by reference in full.